The Vineyard & Winery show and WineGB seminar sessions, on 25 November, will provide top level advice from experts that are current and pertinent to members of the industry – from releasing capital and financing against stock to fund growth, to improving yields in the vineyard and increasing tourism revenue by ensuring the best visitor and cellar door experience. 

“We’re thrilled to be sponsoring the seminar programme this year. It’s an opportunity for the industry to come together and cultivate ideas, innovation and strategic discussion at a crucial moment for the flourishing UK wine producing industry. We’re looking forward to sharing how we can help unlock new capital to help fund sustainable growth, build resilience and nurture innovation as the industry continues to develop,” commented Mitchel Fowler, Founder, Ferovinum Ltd.

 Ferovinum Ltd is a working capital platform that enables wine producers and wholesalers to release capital against their inventory during ageing and marketing periods. “Since launching our wine producer product in 2020, we’ve released capital for over 200,000 bottles in the UK. This allows our clients to re-invest capital, which would otherwise be tied up in stock unproductively, into growth and efficiency projects – such as marketing, winery expansion, tasting and tourism facilities,” explained Mitchel Fowler.

“Ferovinum Ltd will consider any bottled wine stock, including unfinished on-lees sparkling wine,” commented Daniel Gibney, fellow Founder of Ferovinum. “The producer finishes the wine as usual at their current facilities and Ferovinum can release further capital as value is added through this process.”

“The service is currently active at seven Excise warehouses and contract wineries in the UK and is adding locations all the time; any bonded storage location, including own-wineries can be considered. We also can hold stock en-route from origin to export markets. It is free to setup on the platform, can be used ‘on-demand’ – and is highly flexible in integrating with your working capital cycle and supply chain.

 “Our fees are competitive with the overall costs of bank lending and aren’t payable until the stock is repurchased – aligning our client’s cashflows to their sales without reliance on bank or private debt. In addition, unlike bank lending, it provides flexible cashflow optimisation without heavy administrative burden or legal/setup costs,” he added.

 The type of product from Ferovinum is essentially the first of its kind to be offered to the wine industry anywhere in the world. Mostly wine regions are under-served by banks. Ferovinum operates differently from a bank in that it buys and holds inventory for clients and sells back on a ‘just-in-time’ basis. Historically traditional lenders have shied away from stock, as it is difficult to value and to understand the risks, however Ferovinum provides a structure that lowers the risks for the banks, bringing capital to the industry which Ferovinum can deploy to customers large and small. Ferovinum are therefore able to access capital more easily than individual companies and pass on this benefit.

The business was set up in 2018 and the product for wine producers, which was developed with input from some of the UK’s larger producers and WineGB, was launched in 2020. “The service is for both smaller and larger producers. So far it has been used for investment in tasting rooms, event space, cellar doors as well as winery expansion. We are very excited to be working with UK wine producers,” Daniel added.